1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for monitoring the status of a vehicle driver on the basis of a captured image of the driver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an Advanced Safety Vehicle (ASV) refers to a vehicle designed to reduce the number of deaths caused by traffic accidents, a vehicle capable of relieving drivers' fatigue, or a vehicle designed to be easily driven. Safety technology used for the ASV may include a system for monitoring the status of a driver, a system for sensing obstacles at night, and a system for providing a warning signal of the dangerous status of a vehicle.
Among these systems, the driver status monitoring system determines whether a driver dozes off while he or she is driving, through the analysis of images obtained by capturing the behavioral status of a driver, such as the blinking of the driver's eyes, using a camera, and/or the use of signals input from various types of manipulation switches, such as a brake switch and a steering switch, and provides a warning signal to the driver, thus awaking the driver who dozes off while driving and allowing the driver to safely drive the vehicle.
Such a driver status monitoring system requires a camera capable of capturing the front face of a driver. For example, the camera may be mounted in an instrument cluster, an upper portion of a steering column, or an interior mirror placed in a vehicle.
However, when the camera is mounted in the instrument cluster or the upper portion of the steering column, there is a problem in that, when a steering wheel is rotated, it blocks the camera. Further, when the camera is mounted on the room mirror placed in the vehicle, the camera is not influenced by the rotation of the steering wheel, but there is a problem in that since the room mirror is placed at a position higher than the face of a driver, captured images are ones viewed downwards from the above, and in that since the camera is placed at a distance from the face of the driver, it is difficult to precisely monitor the status of the driver.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.